Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $168.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $141.00 to $168.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $103.71 and a 1-year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Chico Wealth RIA acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $330,000. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 67.7% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 241,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,598,000 after purchasing an additional 97,466 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.1% in the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 5,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $779,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Finally, David J Yvars Group boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. David J Yvars Group now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.